


Like Sparkling Water

by orphan_account



Series: Rarepair Week [2]
Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, HIV/AIDS, Hair-pulling, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:27:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27232723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: How Allen convinced Link to come to an actual bar to meet his cousin, Link wasn’t sure.
Relationships: Howard Link/Tyki Mikk
Series: Rarepair Week [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1986490
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Like Sparkling Water

**Author's Note:**

> For Rarepair Week Day 2: You're Buying

How Allen convinced Link to come to an actual bar to meet his cousin, Link wasn’t sure. He had been at home earlier that night, looking at cake recipes after a long Friday at work when Allen called him up.

“Hey, you’re coming out with me tonight,” Allen said, sounding chipper for someone who had likely woken up about an hour ago.

“Allen, no. I have plans.”

Allen laughed at what he was about to say. “Do these plans involve a cake tin, batter, frosting, and an oven?”

“Yes, now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go preheat my oven.”

“Dirty.” Allen dragged out the word, sounding like he was smirking.

Definitely not blushing, Link said, “Hush. Can I go now?”

“There’s a reason you haven’t hung up on me yet. And that’s because you want to come out with me tonight and meet my hot cousin, who is coming out just to meet you.”

Link gulped, heartbeat picking up pace against his ribs. “Does he know about my…” Link swallowed again. “Situation.”

“No, I figured you could tell him. He won’t mind, though.”

“How can you be so sure?” Link asked, trying to keep his voce steady despite that it was trying to shake.

“Because we grew up together, and we’re practically siblings since our dads are identical twins. So, just come out and meet him. I guarantee you’ll like him.”

“And if he doesn’t like me?” Link asked, not too keen on the idea of meeting Allen’s cousin, but too curious to stop himself from pursuing it.

“He will. I already showed him that picture of us we took together at the park and I told him all about you.” Allen sounded excessively proud of himself.

“Except that I’m…”

“Yeah, except that. So, will you do it?”

Link sighed and looked down at his clothes. He was wearing a sweater and a pair of dress pants, having only changed out the top part of his suit. “Yes, I’ll see you soon. Where exactly am I going?”

“Black Order Bar. Oh, there he is. See you soon, Link.” With that, the line went silent and Link was left to place his phone in his pocket and put his coat on.

Tyki setting a glass down in front of Link broke him out of his memories of earlier that night. “So, Link,” Tyki said, and Link noticed him sit down in his peripheral vision. “What do you do for work?”

Link looked up from his sparkling water with lime and at Tyki. “I am an accountant. What do you do?”

“I work with Allen. Well, not _with_ Allen, that would be incest. But we work at the same place. What accounting firm do you work at?” Tyki took a sip of his wine. A long, slow sip.

“So, you’re a stripper?” Link asked, placing a hand around his glass, trying to act casual.

Tyki smiled. “Yeah, is that a problem?”

Link took a sip of his water, air bubbling against his lips and tongue. “No, not at all. I work for Avery.”

“Oh, they do the taxes for the strip club.”

Link nodded. “I know. It’s one of my accounts. That’s actually how Allen ended up working there. I was telling him everything seemed very clean, finance wise and he decided to switch clubs.” At the end of Link’s speech, he took another refreshing sip of his drink.

“I see.” Tyki was still smiling. After drinking his red wine for a few moments, Tyki said, “So, you get a discount if you ever come into the club.”

The glass that had been pressed against Link’s lips was swiftly pulled away, ice cubes clinking together, as Link cleared his throat. “Why?”

“Because Cross, the owner, said the person who does our taxes gets a big discount for always doing such a good job.” Tyki shrugged when he was done talking, and then he took another drink of his wine.

“Well… alright then. Should we talk about something else?”

Tyki’s smile turned gentle. “Of course. Allen tells me you bake. How did you get into that?”

The way Tyki was looking at him was like he was picturing him in only an apron. “My Uncle Malcolm taught me. We used to bake together all the time before he…”

“Died?” Tyki asked, looking the slightest bit hesitant.

“No, he’s still alive.” Link took a deep breath. “We used to bake together before he kicked me out for being gay. It was my senior year of high school and I was eighteen, so I just let him and I moved in with a friend. He let me stay on his insurance, though, so I wouldn’t die.”

Tyki opened his mouth, but Link’s watch alarm went off before he could say anything.

“Oh, hold on a moment,” Link said, turning it off. He pulled a pill case out of his pocket and took the pills inside, washing them down with his sparkling water. “Sorry about that,” he said, putting the pill case away.

“No worries. I’m sorry that happened to you.” Tyki reached across the table, and placed a hand over Link’s where it rested by his glass.

“Well, I had really supportive friends growing up and Tokusa didn’t mind letting me stay with him until we graduated and went off to college. And he let me go home with him during breaks.” Link smiled as he reminisced about how wonderful Tokusa was.

“That’s sweet. Out of simple curiosity, did you two ever date?”

Link blushed for the second time that night. “That’s—well, we kissed once, my first—” And only “—kiss.”

Tyki smiled again. “So sweet. You’re so sweet. Anyway,” Tyki patted Link’s hand, “you wanna hear about my first kiss?”

“Sure.”

“She was a close friend from middle school. I was in seventh and she was in eighth and one day she just kissed me. It wasn’t magical or anything, but it was nice. I didn’t really get magical until senior year of high school, but that’s a story for another day.”

“I’ve never had a ‘magical’ kiss,” Link admitted softly, looking down at his glass. Condensation had long since begun to collect on the surface, with droplets of water dripping down and clearing the fog.

“Sometimes it just takes a while. Like, how many people have you kissed?”

“One. And it was just once.”

Tyki hummed. “I see. Do you want me to kiss you?”

“Not in public.” Link glanced around the bar and saw that it was still full of people.

“Should we go back to your place? Your turf, and you can kick me out anytime you like.”

While Link liked the idea of being the one in control of the situation and Tyki sounded sincere about it, he wasn’t sure he was ready to have a man he barely knew come back to his apartment.

“We don’t have to. We can just hangout here and then I’ll walk you to your car.”

“I walked here, but no, I’d like to go back to my apartment with you.” Link finally settled his eyes on Tyki.

“Okay, yeah. Let’s go.”

They put their coats back on and headed outside where it was snowing. Tyki stuck his tongue out and tilted his head back, catching snowflake after snowflake in his mouth.

When they got to Link’s apartment, Link and Tyki hung their coats up on the coat rack and then sat down on the couch.

“Can I kiss you?” Tyki asked, swinging a leg over Link’s lap, straddling him.

“The last person I kissed knew this and I feel like you should too.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Tyki assured, pulling Link’s braid free and running his fingers through it to release the strands.

“I’m HIV positive. My mom gave it to me while she was pregnant with me and she got it from my dad who got it from some guy he slept with before he met my mom.”

Tyki nodded, still soothingly running his fingers through Link’s long, blond hair. “That doesn’t bother me. Does it bother you?”

“Not anymore. It used to, but I’ve grown accustomed to it and I’ve known my whole life.”

“Makes sense. Did you want that second kiss now, or did you want to talk?”

“Kiss me, please.”

Tyki smirked. “Gladly.”

At first, it was simply a gentle press of lips together, but then Tyki deepened the kiss and Link sighed out through his nose at the feeling. When Tyki slipped his tongue into Link’s mouth, Link thought this truly was magical. Maybe it had been the intimate conversation they’d had beforehand, but something about this felt _right_.

Tyki pulled back several moments later and asked. “Good?”

“Magical,” Link said and then he smiled for a moment before kissing Tyki again. It was the first time he had ever initiated a kiss and it left him feeling rather bold. Bold enough to slide his tongue in Tyki’s mouth. Pulling back when he needed more air, Link took a couple of deep breaths before saying, “Can we talk now?”

“Of course. What do you wanna talk about?”

“You.”

Tyki nodded. “There’s not much to tell. I don’t know if you know this, but I used to live with Allen from the moment he was born to when he moved in with Lavi and I had to move into a smaller apartment. Not that I couldn’t afford it, I’m just trying to save as much money as I can so I can retire early.”

“That’s wise.” Link ran a hand through Tyki’s hair to find out if it was as soft as it looked. It was and Tyki tilted his head back into the touch. “Allen told me you grew up together. Are your dads close?”

Smiling fondly, Tyki said, “Super close. Growing up, they never let Allen or I feel bad about not having moms. What about your parents?”

Any intention of a smile that started to form on Link’s face quickly vanished. “My parents died when I was six in a car crash. I was in the car with them and I broke my arm, but they both didn’t make it. My uncle took me in until…” Link was having a hard time keeping his breath steady by the time he trailed off.

“Hey.” Tyki wrapped his arms around Link and breathed calmly until Link was able to mimic him.

“Thank you.”

“Of course. You wanna talk about something else?” Tyki said, returning to stroking through Link’s hair.

“Yes please.”

Tyki kissed Link’s cheek, leaving his nose pressed there for a few moments. “I used to babysit Allen when he was younger,” he said, pulling back. “He was one hell of a handful, but he was super adorable. He also learned sarcasm at a young age.”

Link did smile this time, pushing aside all bad thoughts. “I could see all of that being true.” He sighed softly as Tyki massaged his scalp.

“Yeah.” They kissed again and Link was unsure who started it this time, but he didn’t mind. They kissed for what felt like a few, stilled moments in time, but in reality, it turned out to be nearly an hour when Link looked at his watch.

“We should stop. I’m not ready for… more yet.”

“Okay,” Tyki said, cupping Link’s cheeks. He pressed a wet kiss to Link’s nose, leaving a mixture of his and Link’s saliva. “Should I leave?”

“Not unless you want to. I’m enjoying your company.”

“I like your company, too, Link.”

“Howard.”

Tyki grinned. “Howard,” he said, low and seductive. “Pull my hair, Howard.”

Gingerly, Link reached up with his right hand and threaded his fingers in Tyki’s hair. When he tugged on the strands, Tyki let out a harsh puff of air.

“Yeah, good,” Tyki breathed out. He ducked his head down and pulled Link’s sweater aside. Lips hovered over the skin of his collarbone, he asked, “Should I stop?”

Link swallowed, trying to stay calm as he felt Tyki’s warm breath ghosting across his skin. “No, keep going.”

Tyki hummed as he peppered kisses along Link’s collarbone. It turned into a moan when Link pulled Tyki’s hair hard. Link was a touch hesitant at first, but when he heard Tyki’s reaction, he did it again and Tyki made the same sound.

“Can I bite you?”

Link wanted that, but he knew it would lead to sex and he wasn’t ready for that yet. “Not yet.”

After retracting himself completely from Link, Tyki sat next to him, a hand over his knee. “What should we do?”

“We could watch something,” Link said, picking up the remote from the coffee table and handing it to Tyki. “Put on whatever you want.”

“So, did you want to be boyfriends, or keep things casual?” Tyki asked, flipping through apps in search of something.

“I’d like to be boyfriends.” Link left it at that despite that he wanted to add more.

“Then we’ll be boyfriends,” Tyki said as he put on the first episode of _The Flash_ , something Link had never seen before.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! :)


End file.
